Lakers drop Bulldogs

Greg Buckner

Published
12:52 am EST, Tuesday, February 4, 2014

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Grand Valley’s big second half sends Bulldogs home with loss

ALLENDALE – A big second half from Grand Valley State helped the rival Lakers earn a 67-50 victory over the Ferris State women’s basketball team on Monday.
The Bulldogs (6-10, 6-8 GLIAC) only trailed by three heading into halftime, but the Lakers (10-9, 8-7 GLIAC) shot 50 percent from the field (13-of-26) and 60 percent from three (6-of-10) in the second half to put the Bulldogs away.
The game started off in the Bulldogs’ favor with Heidi Highstreet putting in a layup for the first basket of the game, but the Lakers quickly responded with a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 lead with 13:31 to play in the first after a 3-pointer by Kat LaPrairie.
The GVSU lead wouldn’t hold, however, as the Bulldogs came right back with a 9-2 run to take an 11-9 advantage with 10:07 to play after a jumper by Destiny Robinson.
GVSU used a 7-4 run to jump back ahead 16-13 with 5:39 before the half with a pair of free throws from Bailey Cairnduff, a former Morley Stanwood standout.
FSU would trim the GVSU lead to 18-17 with 2:34 left in the half following a jumper by Dena Droste, but GVSU closed the half out with a 7-5 run to take a 25-22 lead into the break.
The Lakers opened the second half with a three by LaPrarie, but FSU responded with a 9-3 run to knot the score up at 31-31 with 17:12 to play after Sarah DeShone completed the and-one after getting fouled on a made jumper.
Grand Valley State wouldn’t let the Bulldogs get any closer, though, as the Lakers came back and hit three-straight from beyond the arch to balloon the GVSU lead to 42-33 with 13:07 to go. “Three threes in a row is hard to come back from,” freshman guard Emily Evans said. “The hardest part is when someone gets going, the rest of their team goes with them.
“You just have to find it within yourself to push through it,” she continued. “Basketball is a game of runs and you just have to find a way to get through it.”
The Bulldogs would get the GVSU lead back down to single digits at 48-39 following a layup by Christina Branch with 8:36 to play, but it was all Lakers from there on out as they never let FSU get within single digits the rest of the way to secure the 67-50 victory.
DeShone paced the Bulldogs with 14 points and six rebounds while Branch tallied 11 points and seven rebounds and Dena Droste recorded 10 points.
Kayla Dawson led the Lakers with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
GVSU shot 41.2 percent from the field for the game while the Bulldogs connected on 35.2 percent of their shots from the field, but GVSU went 10-of-20 from beyond the arch (50 percent) while FSU went 3-of-12 (25 percent) from deep.
The Bulldogs are back in action Thursday with a home GLIAC contest against Michigan Tech at Jim Wink Arena.